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The encode
and decode
Python methods are used to encode and decode an input string using a given encoding. Let’s take a closer look at these two functions.
encode the given string
We use the encode ()
method on the input string that each string object has.
Format :
input_string.encode (encoding, errors)
This is the encoding t input_string
using encoding
, where errors
define the behavior to follow if by some chance the string is not encoded.
encode ()
will result in the sequence bytes
.
inp_string = ’ Hello’ bytes_encoded = inp_string.encode () print (type (bytes_encoded))
As expected, the resulting object is & lt; class ’bytes’ & gt;
:
& lt; class ’bytes’ & gt;
The type of encoding to be followed is indicated by the encoding
parameter. There are different types of character encoding schemes, of which Python defaults to UTF-8.
Let’s take an example of encoding
.
a = ’This is a simple sentence.’ print (’ Original string: ’, a) # Decodes to utf-8 by default a_utf = a.encode () print (’ Encoded string : ’, a_utf)
Output
Original string: This is a simple sentence. Encoded string: b’This is a simple sentence.’
As you can see, we have encoded the input string in UTF-8 format. Although there is not much difference, you may notice that the string is prefixed with b
. This means the string is converted to a stream of bytes.
This is actually only presented as the original string for readability, prefixed with b
to indicate that it is not a string but a sequence bytes.
Error Handling
There are different types of errors
, some of which are listed below:
Error type | Behavior |
strict | Default behavior that raises UnicodeDecodeError on failure. |
ignore | Ignore unencoded Unicode from the result. |
replace | Replaces all unencoded Unicode characters with a question mark (?) |
backslashreplace | Insert a backslash escape sequence dashes (uNNNN) instead of uncoded Unicode characters. |
Let’s look at the above concepts with a simple example. We will consider an input string that does not encode all characters (for example, √∂
),
a = ’This is a bit m√∂re c√∂mplex sentence.’ print (’Original string:’, a) print (’Encoding with errors = ignore:’, a.encode (encoding = ’ascii’, errors =’ ignore’)) print (’Encoding with errors = replace: ’, a.encode (encoding =’ ascii’, errors = ’replace’))
Output
Original string: This is a m√∂re c√∂mplex sentence. Encoding with errors = ignore: b’This is a bit mre cmplex sentence.’ Encoding with errors = replace: b’This is a bit m? Re c? Mplex sentence.’
Decoding a byte stream
Similar to encoding a string, we can decode a byte stream into a string object using the decode ()
function.
Format:
encoded = input_string.encode () # Using decode () decoded = encoded.decode (decoding, errors)
Because encode ()
converts the string to bytes, decode ()
just does the opposite.
byte_seq = b’Hello’ decoded_string = byte_seq .decode () print (type (decoded_string)) print (decoded_string)
Output
& lt; class ’str’ & gt; Hello
This indicates that decode ()
converts bytes to a Python string.
Similar to encode ()
options, decoding
defines the type of encoding from which the byte sequence is decoded. The errors
parameter specifies the behavior in case of decoding failure, which has the same values ​​as encode ()
.
Encoding importance
Since the encoding and decoding of the input string is format dependent, we must be careful with these operations. If we use the wrong format, it will lead to incorrect output and may cause errors.
The first decoding is wrong because it tries to decode the input string that is encoded in UTF-8 format. The second is correct because the encoding and decoding formats are the same.
a = ’This is a bit m√∂re c√∂mplex sentence.’ print (’ Original string: ’ , a) # Encoding in UTF-8 encoded_bytes = a.encode (’utf-8’,’ replace’) # Trying to decode via ASCII, which is incorrect decoded_incorrect = encoded_bytes.decode (’ascii’,’ replace’) decoded_correct = encoded_bytes.decode (’utf-8’,’ replace’) print (’Incorrectly Decoded string:’, decoded_incorrect) print (’Correctly Decoded string:’, decoded_correct)
Output
Original string: This is a bit möre cömplex sentence. Incorrectly Decoded string: This is a bit m re c mplex sentence. Correctly Decoded string: This is a bit möre cömplex sentence.
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Vigrinia | 2023-02-08
Simply put and clear. Thank you for sharing. Python encode () and decode () functions and other issues with imp Python module was always my weak point 😁. Will get back tomorrow with feedback
Massachussetts | 2023-02-08
Maybe there are another answers? What Python encode () and decode () functions exactly means?. Will get back tomorrow with feedback
Massachussetts | 2023-02-08
I was preparing for my coding interview, thanks for clarifying this - Python encode () and decode () functions in Python is not the simplest one. Will get back tomorrow with feedback